The primary goal of this work is an elucidation of the complex, multistep reaction process involved in the oxidative conversion of 3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine (DOPA) to the mammalian pigment melanin. The sequence has long been considered to include a series of transient intermediates: dopaquinone, cyclodopa, dopachrome, and 5,6-dihydroxyindole (DHI), of which only DHI is isolable in pure form. In a recent publication from this laboratory we reported the use of fast sweep electroanalytical techniques (cyclic voltammetry and chronoamperometry) to observe and kinetically characterize the conversion of dopaquinone (half-life ca. 15 milliseconds) to dopachrome. More recent work has focused on analogous studies of the oxidative behavior of DHI and selected congeners. Continued studies will include further use of electroanalytical methods to characterize these indolic molecules and to elucidate the kinetic-mechanistic aspects of the melanization process.